Housing affordability remains a critical issue

While development booms, another acute and pressing issue arises; housing affordability. Despite recent price downturns in other cities, house prices in Canberra continue to grow with the median property sale price increasing by 15.1 per cent in the year to April 2019 to $574,950. Canberra's rental vacancy rate remains at less than 1.5 per cent since the start of 2017, contributing to rising rents across the city. Canberra stands as one of the most expensive capital cities in which to rent with a median weekly rental of $550 in April 2019.

For lower-income ACT households, housing affordability is a particular challenge. Their plight can be concealed by Canberra's overall higher than average median incomes. This is reflected in the most recent release of SGS’ Rental Affordability Index (RAI), which reveals that household rents in Canberra range from Unaffordable to Extremely Unaffordable for those on lower incomes, including those reliant on government benefits. This revelation highlights the need for policy mechanisms that allow economic benefits through increased housing development to filter down to those most in need.

Transformation of Canberra’s Public Transport Network

Perhaps the most recent significant change to Canberra’s urban structure was the opening of Stage 1 of the light rail network. Though delivered later than anticipated, the project officially came in under its contracted budget. Less than the cost initially estimated in the business case – a rare feat for large infrastructure projects.

Stage 1 is responsible for the restructuring of the city's entire bus network. The revised network and timetabling saw a focus on creating more direct routes, increasing services for evenings and weekends, and introducing several rapid services connecting town centres with other key locations. However, not everyone is pleased with the changes to the network. Some travellers now need to make more interchanges than previously, due to changes in services, this has included the removal of dedicated services to some schools and regular cancellations of weekend services.

Free travel across the public transport network for the first month of operation saw a record number of passenger journeys with more than 65,000 journeys during the first two days of service. Overall, the free period saw up to 17,000 boardings in one day on light rail, though this number had dropped to less than 15,000 boardings per day with the reintroduction of fares. However, the network overall has seen a nine per cent increase in passenger journeys compared with the same time period the previous year. The long- term impact of the introduction of light rail and the new bus network on Canberrans' transport habits will be interesting to observe in the future.

What’s next?

Canberra has the potential to be further transformed by the promised extension of light rail from Civic to Woden. Though the ACT Government has committed to the Stage 2 project over two phases, it’s likely to face some hurdles in the short term. These challenges include Commonwealth planning approval processes with the proposed route travelling through areas of national significance. Add to this the need to resolve technical constraints such as passenger access to stops along Adelaide Avenue and the design of Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. Additional funding for which, may be less than forthcoming to the ACT Government following the result of the federal election.

Another important recent development is the creation of a new agency, Major Projects Canberra, to oversee the ACT's 10-year infrastructure program. The agency is likely to have responsibility for significant infrastructure projects. These projects include Light Rail Stage 2 and the SPIRE (Surgical Procedures, Interventional Radiology, and Emergency) expansion of Canberra Hospital.

Urban renewal across Canberra looks sure to continue into the near future, with many important precincts proposed for mixed-use development, including the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) campus and the University of Canberra. Investigations have also commenced into future land uses at East Gungahlin, centred on the suburb of Kenny and including the Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) precinct.

A number of key sites are earmarked for development through the Indicative Land Release Program. These include sites along Northbourne Avenue such as the Macarthur House site in Lyneham and former public housing sites in Braddon and Turner. Adjacent to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, the East Lake area in Kingston is also proposed for renewal. As is the West Basin (Acton Foreshore) precinct between Civic and Lake Burley Griffin. Plans for the redevelopment of the Kingston Arts Precinct were also recently released. Furthermore, the supply of greenfield development is set to continue with newly established suburbs in north Gungahlin and the Molonglo district.

Continued growth needs proper planning